THE PAINTING FACTORY: ABSTRACTION AFTER WARHOL

Through August 20, 2012
MOCA Grand Avenue

The Painting Factory documents the recent transformation of abstract painting into one of the most dynamic platforms in contemporary art, featuring works by Tauba Auerbach, Mark Bradford, DAS INSTITUT (Kerstin Brätsch and Adele Röder), Urs Fischer, Wade Guyton, Glenn Ligon, Julie Mehretu, Seth Price, Sterling Ruby, Josh Smith, Rudolf Stingel, Kelley Walker, Andy Warhol, and Christopher Wool.

Installation view of The Painting Factory: Abstraction After Warhol at MOCA Grand Avenue, April 29, 2012-August 20, 2012, photo by Brian Forrest

CAI GUO-QIANG: SKY LADDER

Through September 3, 2012
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Cai Guo-Qiang: Sky Ladder is the artist's first West Coast solo museum exhibition. Known for his explosion projects and gunpowder drawings, Cai's work employs both the human hand alongside pyrotechnic technology to realize his monumental works. Composed of an outdoor explosion event, a suspended sculptural installation, three gunpowder drawings, and video compilations, Sky Ladder is an exploration of natural forces and extraterrestrial life.

Cai Guo-Qiang, Mystery Circle explosion event, realized on site at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, 2012, photo by Joshua White, courtesy The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

ENDS OF THE EARTH: LAND ART TO 1974

Through September 3, 2012
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974 is the first large-scale, historical-thematic exhibition to deal broadly with Land art, the emerging impulse in the 1960s to use the earth as an artistic medium and to locate works in remote sites far from familiar art contexts. The exhibition highlights the early years of untested artistic experimentations of this extraordinary movement.

Installation view of Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, May 27, 2012-September 3, 2012, photo by Brian Forrest

AMANDA ROSS-HO: TEENY TINY WOMAN

Through September 23, 2012
MOCA Pacific Design Center

"My practice isn't a peaceful process... I'm actually driven by the inseparable connectivity of it all."
-Amanda Ross-Ho, interviewed by MOCA Associate Curator Rebecca Morse

AMANDA ROSS-HO: TEENY TINY WOMAN presents Ross-Ho's ongoing engagement with translation, scale, and the discreet beauty of chance and anomaly, combining large-scale paintings, fabricated objects, textiles, and photographs within an installation devised specially for MOCA Pacific Design Center. With grace and humor, her work advances the metaphorical potential of photography.

Promotional image for AMANDA ROSS-HO: TEENY TINY WOMAN, 2012

Visit the MOCA store or go to mocastore.org to receive a 10% discount off new catalogues recently published to accompany the exhibitions on view.

Saturday, August 11, 2012
MOCA Grand Avenue

Inspired by Sol Lewitt's Sentences on Conceptual Art as famously crooned by John Baldessari, Songs on Conceptual Art convenes a significant collection of innovative musicians and artists, each composing and performing a song based on one of Lewitt's lines. Organized by Crystal Baxley and Stefan Ransom, this concert and its accompanying album include Lucky Dragons, DAVIS HOOKER, Dunes, Giggles, Jordan Dykstra, LA Ladies Choir, Caspar Sonnet, Dragging an Ox Through Water, Brenden Fowler, and Sun Foot. 

Available as a special edition vinyl record from Awesome Vistas, Teenage Teardrops, and Marriage Records, the complete album can also be downloaded here.

FREE; 1–7pm
Info and schedule at moca.org

Album cover for Songs on Conceptual Art, designed by Aaron Robert Miller.

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Friday, August 17
Performances by Zola Jesus and Active Child
DJ set by Ariel Pink
Visuals by L.A. Dance Project / Benjamin Millepied and Rodarte

Friday, August 24
Performances by Cults and Lord Huron
DJ set by Victoria Bergsman (Taken by Trees)
Visuals by Emmett Malloy

This summer, MOCA brings together a diverse group of musicians and artists for PLAY MOCA, a collaborative multimedia festival in celebration of Los Angeles's cultural vitality and diversity. COCO, an L.A. based design group, including alumni from SCI-ARC, L.A.'s internationally renowned architecture school, will help transform the museum courtyard into an enveloping and otherworldly performance space. PLAY MOCA is presented by Smashbox Cosmetics and curated by IAMSOUND and IO ECHO.

FREE; 6-10pm
RSVP required, limited capacity. Check moca.org for advance ticket information.

Cults, photo by Martin San Miguel; Lord Huron, photo by Ben Schneider

Thursday, August 2 | Thursday, August 9
MOCA Grand Avenue

Join L.A. Dance Project/Benjamin Millepied and Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford for FRAMEWORK, a series of site-specific dance performances in the galleries at MOCA Grand Avenue where The Painting Factory: Abstraction After Warhol is now on view.

FREE; info at moca.org
All performances will begin promptly at 7pm and last approximately 30 minutes.
Capacity is limited and entry will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

FRAMEWORK at MOCA Grand Avenue, July 19, 2012, photo by Christina Edwards

August 1 – September 9, 2012
Mark Taper Forum

Center Theatre Group presents RED, a critically acclaimed and Tony Award® winning play about the fury of Mark Rothko as he paints newly commissioned works for New York's luxury restaurant, The Four Seasons. Alfred Molina (Art and The Cherry Orchard) is Rothko, raging against the art world — and occasionally his assistant, performed by Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening) — in a masterful and perspective-changing exploration into the soul of an artist.

MOCA members receive 10% off tickets to select performances.

To purchase tickets, visit centertheatregroup.org and enter the discount code ROTHKO. Some restrictions may apply; not valid on previously purchased tickets.

Alfred Molina, photo by Johan Persson/ArenaPAL; Jonathan Groff, photo by Craig Schwartz